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International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 8, August 2016Perceptions on Implications of Delayed Marriage: A CaseStudy of Married Adults in Kuala LumpurKelani Karamat II. LITERATURE REVIEWAbstract—It is an undeniable fact that with demographicimbalance and economic crisis among other things, the age ofmarriage has risen tremendously throughout the world. Thisstudy investigates perceptions of married adults in KualaLumpur on both positive and negative implications of delayedmarriage. The sample consisted of 132 male and 130 femalemarried staff and post-graduate students from three publicUniversities in Kuala Lumpur. A self-constructedquestionnaire with internal consistence reliability coefficient of0.70 was used to elicit information from respondents using apurposive sampling method. Findings in this article revealnegative perceptions on the positive implications (maturity inmarital relationship, quality partner and marital stability) andno gender difference exists in the perceptions of male andfemale respondents on this. The study also finds positiveperceptions on the negative implications of delayed marriagesuch as infertility, cohabitation/pre-marital sex, psychosocialeffect and stress effect. It finds no difference in the perceptionsof male and female on negative implications of delayedmarriage such as infertility, cohabitation/pre-marital sex,psychosocial effect and stress effect. However, genderdifference exists in the perceptions on the negative effect ofdelayed marriage on children (producing delinquent children).Negative implications are detrimental to the particularindividuals and the society. By paying less attention to it, theaftermath effect may be worse than that of early marriage. Inthis sense, there should be a continual sensitization of people onthe negative implications of delayed marriage.The practice of early marriage is prevalent in developingcountries like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia whereannually millions of young girls become the wives of oldermen. More than 30 percent of girls are married before theage of 18, and 14 percent before they are 15 [2]. Scholarshave raised concern on early marriage because of thepotential adverse consequences it has for young people’sphysical health, mental and well-being [3]. Early marriagethreatens nearly every Millennium Development Goal; it isan obstacle to eradicating poverty, achieving universalprimary education, promoting gender equality, improvingmaternal and child health, and reducing HIV and AIDS [4].Also, various international agreements such as theConvention on the Elimination on All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UNConvention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have spelledout that early marriage infringes on the rights of women andchildren by denying them access to an education, goodhealth, and freedom. Previous research found that delayingmarriage has positive implications on development amongwhich are:A. Maternal and Infant HealthAccording to Hervish and Feldman-Jacobs [5] delayingmarriage and childbearing can improve the health of amother and her child. Childbirth complications are theleading cause of death for girls ages 15 to 19 in developingcountries. The situation is even graver for girls under age 15,who are five times more likely to die from maternal causes[6]. In addition, girls who are married young and pressuredto have children before their bodies are fully developed areat greater risk for obstetric fistula, a debilitating medicalcondition often caused by prolonged or obstructed labor [7].Also, infants born to young mothers are more likely to sufferlow birth weight and premature birth, and are more likely todie [8].Index Terms—Delayed marriage, developing countries, earlymarriage, implications, marriage, perceptions.I. INTRODUCTIONMarriage remains an important institution which lays thefoundation of a family which is the bedrock of a society. Indeveloping countries, early marriage leads to overpopulationwhich has been one of the problems eroding the efforts ulation stretches to the limit the existing stateinfrastructures and makes lean state’s coffer. Analysts andpolicymakers increasingly acknowledge the negativeimpacts of early marriage in developing countries, one ofwhich is that, it limits women’s opportunities for educationand skills development [1]. In these countries, delayedmarriage may be one of the solutions to overpopulation andopportunities for women participation in development.B. HIV and AIDSAlthough child marriage is sometimes believed to be aprotective mechanism, the truth is that early marriage canincrease young girls’ risks of HIV and AIDS and othersexually transmitted infections (STIs). Husbands of marriedgirls are often much older than their young wives, withmultiple sex partners prior to marriage, making them morelikely to be HIV-positive [5]. These married girls havefrequent, unprotected sex with little ability to persuade theirhusbands to abstain or use a condom [9].C. Reproductive Health and Well-Being of Women andGirlsIncreasing the age of first marriage reduces girls’ risk forphysical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse.Manuscript received December 23, 2014; revised April 30, 2015.Kelani Karamat is with the Department of Sociology & AnthropologyKulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human -mail:kelanikaramat@yahoo.com).DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2016.V6.713572
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 8, August 2016Delaying marriage can also increase girls’ and women’sdecision making power and improve their reproductivehealth [5]. A study in India found that young women whomarried at age 18 or older were more likely than thosemarried before age 18 to have been involved in planningtheir marriage (27 percent versus 10 percent, respectively);to reject wife beating (47 percent versus 36 percent,respectively); to have used contraceptives to delay their firstpregnancy (11 percent versus 3 percent, respectively); and tohave had their first birth in a health facility (70 percentversus 45 percent, respectively) [10].evident in declining total fertility rate (TFR). The report ofthe World Family Map Project [19] on TFR around theregions of the world says that, Europe and Asia continentshave below replacement level TFR (less than 2.1). Oceania,North America and South America have low TFR close toreplacement level (2.1). Middle East has a moderate TFR(3.1) and high in Sub-Saharan Africa (5.5). Zarinah Mahari[20] states that, fertility decline would have an impact on thereduction of young people that are foreseen as an investmentin the future human capital.Globally, infertility has been estimated to affect roughly80 million adults of reproductive age and studies show thatthe rate of infertility is particularly severe in developingcountries, especially Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa,South Asia and Latin America, in large part due toinadequately treated sexually transmitted infections [21].D. Education and Economic OpportunitiesAccording to Hervish and Feldman-Jacobs [5] keepinggirls in school and delaying marriage can increase incomefor individuals and boost economic development for nations.He mentioned further that when girls stay in school,communities and families reap health benefits, such asdecreased risk of HIV and reduced infant mortality [11].G. Delayed Marriage and Abnormality in ChildrenAnother consequence of delaying marriage is havingchildren later in life and this has been linked with variousproblems such as giving birth to babies with Downsyndrome, sperm losing its vigour which can lead to manyabnormalities in children as well as decline in fertility. Alarge scale study in Israel found that the children of menwho were of 40 years or older were 5.75 times more likelyto have an autism spectrum disorder than children of menunder 30 years [22]. The American College OfGynaecologists [23] reported that, the likelihood of having ababy with Down syndrome increases as the age of a womanincreases.Apart from this, delayed marriage may lead to a change inthe sequence of sexual initiation and marriage [24] and anincrease in the likelihood of young people having multiplesexual partners thereby increasing the likelihood of thespread of HIV/AIDS [25]. In addition, Jones [26] assertsthat delayed marriage is associated with a longer period ofsinglehood among both men and women and regarded theperiod as extended adolescent period. According to him, theextended adolescence through delayed marriage has nowbecome a major pre-occupation of parents, communityleaders, policy makers and government. The period isproblematic as Xenos [27] reported that it has brought withit the issues of dating, premarital sexual relations, unwantedpregnancies, abortions, STDs and AIDS.E. Delayed Marriage and Marital StabilityMartins [12] submitted that people who delay marriagehave ample time to select marriage partner of their choicethereby leading to a stable matrimony. He mentioned furtherthat people who spend more years of their adult lives assingles before marriage show more maturity in their maritalrelationships due to their quality of patience, experience,calmness under stress, and willingness to cooperate whichlead to marital stability in marriage. Other research alsoreported positive relationship between age at first marriageand marital stability [13].Negative implications of delayed marriage have beenreported in many literature. The next paragraph discussessome of these negative implications.F. Delayed Marriage and Declining Birth RateDelayed marriage has negative implications on a societyand on individuals in particular. The most importantnegative implication of delayed marriage is delayedchildbearing which consequently affects the populationgrowth. According to a report from the Social IssuesResearch Centre, United Kingdom [14], more have beenpracticing delayed marriage until their late twenties or earlythirties and consequently it has shown direct impact onhaving children and later has brought about having fewerchildren. This, in effect, has catalyzed an aging populationand population decline in both developed and developingsocieties since the beginning of the twenty-first century.Aging has become a global phenomenon as a result ofincreasing longevity and declining fertility, due to betterdiets, improvement in medical facilities, and awareness ofhealthy lifestyles [15].According to a study published in Human Reproduction,a woman's fertility starts declining as early as her late 20sand not in her 30s as was previously thought [16]. Theaverage age for all births also rose from 26.6 in 1971 to 28.9in 2004 and it was still just under 29 years in 2009 [17]. Aswomen increasingly delay marriage, this automaticallyreduces their fertile years and attempts at conception maybecome difficult, thus making it likely that they will havefewer children or become infertile [18].Childbearing rate is declining worldwide and this isH. Delayed Marriage and CohabitationCohabitation is a prevalent phenomenon, on the rise in thecontemporary society, which has replaced the normalmarriage pattern more widespread in the West and Africacompared to Asia. Popenoe [28] puts it that “no familychange has come to the fore in modern times moredramatically, and with such rapidity, as heterosexualcohabitation outside of marriage”. According to Jones [29],there is a high prevalence of cohabitating relationship inNorthern and Western Europe, many of which producechildren. Chester as cited in Craig Chester [30], mentionedthat there is a clear evidence to demonstrate that marriagepatterns have changed dramatically in the post war era, forexample, people tend to get married at an old age and aremore likely to cohabit or have a trial marriage before theytie the knot. Studies on cohabitation of adults in their573
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 8, August 2016reproductive age of 18-49 years around the globe reveal thatcohabiting relationships are more prevalent in Europe withSweden and France having one-quarter of their adults, aged18-49 years, cohabiting. This is followed by South Americawhere Colombia has 39 percent of adults, aged 18-45 yearsin a cohabiting relationship. North America has a moderatelevel of cohabitation with Canada having a 19 percent ofadults, aged 18-49 years, in cohabiting unions. Sub-SaharaAfrica and Oceania are in-between with Australia and SouthAfrica registering 13 percent of adults, aged 18-49 years,living in a cohabiting relationship. Cohabitation remainsclearly less prevalent in Middle East and in most of Asiabecause of traditional mores on family life [19]. However, itis increasing in Japan and the Philippines, and other Asiancountries despite the social unacceptability of such unions[29].Studies have shown that cohabitation has effect on asociety as well as on child developments. According toAlmond [31] and Popeone [28] cohabiting couples are muchmore likely to break up than married couples. Theimplication of this is overwhelming for a society which hasto provide financial support for the resulting lone-parentfamilies. Furthermore, Popeone reports that cohabitingcouples are likely to have higher rates of child abuse andfamily violence and also lower income. Hymowitz [32] findthat “children born to cohabiting couples are much morelikely to experience family instability, emotional problemsand school failure”. Dunifen and Kowaleski-Jones [33]report a decrease in math skills and an increase indelinquency among children of cohabitating couples.J. Delayed Marriage and the Risk of HIV/AIDSThe risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases andinfections including HIV/AIDs is very high among nevermarried people compared to currently married people basedon the fact that they are more likely to change partners [34].Globally, HIV infects some 33 million people-half of themunder the age of twenty five and the number continues torise [40]. Females are mostly affected with the associateddiseases resulting from pre-marital sex, compared to theirmale counterparts. This is due to the fact that females aremore vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. Alo andAkinde [35], lamented that, the consequences of premaritalsex, STDs (as well as HIV) are higher for females than formales. HIV/AIDs and other STDs are claiming several livesof youths who are the future of society; it decreases the sizeof workforce as it affects mainly adults in their mostproductive years of life (15-49 years) [41].K. Delayed Marriage and AbortionAs marriage gets delayed to later ages, unmarried peoplewho are involved in pre-marital sexual behaviour also carrythe risk of unintended pregnancies [34]. Faced with thisproblem, a woman has to decide whether to have the childout of wedlock or to seek an abortion, especially when thewoman involved is still pursuing education. Giving theestimates of unintended pregnancies, AGI and UnitedNation for Population Fund [42] claim that, unintendedpregnancies will result in 30 million unplanned births, 40million abortions, mostly, unsafe and illegal, and 10 millionmiscarriages. Ray in NMP [43] comments on the economicimplications of unintended pregnancies that if all unintendedpregnancies were prevented, the resulting savings onmedical spending alone would equal more than threequarters of the federal FY 2010 appropriation for the HeadStart and Early Head Start programs and would be roughlyequivalent to the amount that the federal government spendseach year on the Child Care and Development Fund.Unwanted pregnancies resulting in induced abortion arerampant among the unmarried people. One study inIndonesia showed that 40 percent of village women seekingabortions were young unmarried women [44]. In Vietnam,one study found that 37 percent of pregnancies amongyoung women in 2000 ended in abortion [45]. According toFederation of Reproductive Health Association, Malaysia[46], 38 out of every 1,000 women aged between 15-49years old go for abortion and the rate of illegal abortion is0.1 percent of 500 per 500,000 live births yearly. Abortionhas claimed lot of lives of both married and unmarriedwomen. According to Bankole [47], unsafe abortion is amajor contributor to maternal mortality. It is estimated that47,000 women will die as a result of unsafe abortion [42]. Astudy finds that more than 3,000 Nigerian women beingtreated in hospitals for complications from such proceduresdie each year [48]. In Argentina and Chile, more than onethird of maternal deaths among adolescents are due tocomplications of unsafe abortions [49]. Unsafe abortionsometimes may lead to future secondary infertility in somewomen when they eventually marry, thereby causingeverlasting miseries and marital breakup in many homes.Olukoya [50] reported that, women younger than 20 yearsold account for 38-68 percent of patients admitted toI. Delayed Marriage and Pre-marital SexIt is often likely that people who postpone marriage maybecome engaged in pre-marital sexual behaviour [34].Recent wave of sexual revolution is a product of modernityand it has made pre-marital sex a common phenomenonamong the youths. Throughout the world, most youngpeople have had sex before they reach 19 years of age [35].Scott [36] mentioned that, the rise in premarital sex inAfrica has resulted from a sexual revolution that came withwestern culture.Studies reveal that while puberty is occurring earlier ingirls nowadays marriage is often delayed. In the U.S, theaverage age of menstruation which is one of the signs ofpuberty is 12 years in girls, while the age of marriage at firstmarriage is 26 years. The difference between the age ofmenarche and the age at first marriage is quite muchcompared to the past when it was just 2-4 year interval [37].This phenomenon has however been linked with pre-maritalsex as Alan Guttmacher Institute [38] assert that “animportant consequence of prolonging the period betweenpuberty and marriage is an increased likelihood that youngwomen will become involved in sexual relationships beforemarriage. Examining the trends in pre-marital sex in UnitedState of America, Finer [39], concluded that, premarital sexis not surprising in an era when men and women typicallymarry in their mid to late twenties and they are sexuallyactive as singles for extensive periods. Pre-marital sexualbehaviour carries the risk of unintended pregnancy andinfection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).574
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 8, August 2016Lumpur on both positive and negative implications ofdelayed marriage.hospitals for treatment of unsafe abortion complications inmany developing countries. These complications include:cervical or vaginal lacerations, sepsis, hemorrhage, bowel oruterine perforation, tetanus, pelvic infections or abscesses,chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and secondaryinfertility [50].When an unmarried woman with unplanned pregnancychooses not to have an abortion, the decision on having thechild out-of wedlock is resolved to. There has been anincrease in children born outside of marriage in the recenttime. In the past and still in many societies, children bornoutside of marriage are stigmatized and discriminated at.For instance, in England and Wales such children werereferred to as bastards and whoresons. According to a reportfrom World Family Map Project [19], non-maritalchildbearing is an increasing phenomenon in Europe, LatinAmerica and North America and Oceania. Recent data byWorld Family Map Project reveals that in South America,more than half of children born were to unmarried mothers,placing Colombia at the highest level of 85 percent. In manyparts of Europe, data show that non-marital childbearingaccounts for a third and half of all births. The case in Franceand Sweden is similar to South America as more than 50percent were born outside marriage. In Oceania and NorthAmerica, four out of ten children were born with Canada atthe lower range of 27 percent and Mexico at the upper range3of 55 percent. Out of all births in the U.S, the proportion ofbirths occurring out-of-wedlock has increased to about 48percent [32]. World Family Map Project [19] reports thatnon-marital childbearing varied in Sub-Saharan Africa withNigeria assuming the lowest rate of 6 percent and SouthAfrica having the highest rate of 62 percent. Relatively, thisphenomenon is less common in the Middle East and Asiaalthough Philippines assumes the highest rate in Asianregion.One would assume that the proportion of births shoulddecrease with the increasing age at first marriage but thecase is the other way round. More births are occurring aspeople delay marriage and this is due to an increasing nonmarital childbearing. In many European countries, theaverage age at first birth is lower than the average age atfirst marriage [51]. The same phenomenon is also inexistence in the U.S. It is referred to as the ‘great crossover’[32].The problem of out-of-wedlock births has caused muchconcern because of its implications on the children.Research posits that children born outside of marriage aremuch more likely to experience family instability, emotionalproblems [32] and are “less likely to have to have positiveoutcomes in many areas of life, from social behaviour toacademic performance” [19]. Apart from this, birth tounmarried mothers has given rise to a particularly large risein percentage of lone parenthood [52]. Social trend [18]claims that in 1971, only 1 percent of households wereheaded by a never-married lone mother, but by 2007, thishad risen to 10 percent.Limited research are available in developing societiesregarding the demographic and familial change that hastransformed population profiles in developed societies. Thispaper therefore attempts to address this deficiency byinvestigating the perceptions of married people in KualaIII. MATERIAL AND METHODSA. Participants and Sampling ProceduresA total of 262 male and female, currently married staffand post-graduate students of three public Universities inKuala Lumpur, namely; International Islamic UniversityMalaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia were selected using purposive sampling method.Details of marital status and e-mail addresses of staff weregot from various departments in the Universities. Whilethose of the post-graduate students were got from the centresresponsible for the affairs of post-graduate students in thethree Universities. Respondents age range from 25-50 years.Majority of the respondents (88 percent) did not marry late(they married before age 30) while the remaining 12 percentmarried late (above 30 years).Instrument: A self-constructed questionnaire with areliability estimate based on internal consistency ofCronbach’s alpha 0.70 was used to elicit information fromrespondents. The instrument consists of two sections;section one comprises the demographic information of therespondents and section two comprises the items thatmeasure both positive and negative implications of delayedmarriage. These sub-section place participants on a responsecategories of a Likert-type format ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The response options wereplaced from lowest to highest, or left to right in braincompatible order. A copy of the questionnaire waselectronically sent to each participant.Data Analysis: Data collected were analysed using SPSSversion 20. Percentages, Mean scores and standarddeviations were derived from the analysis. T-test analysiswas also carried to find gender difference in the perceptionsof male and female on implications of delayed marriage.Mean score below 2.5 is regarded as unfavourable of ordisagree with the statements on the instrument and meanscore above 2.5 is regarded as favourable of or agree withthe statements on the instrument.Results: Demographic information of respondents revealthat 72% of them were married by age 25, 16% weremarried by age 30 and the remaining 15% married above 30years.Upon examining the mean of each item Table I, namely,delayed marriage ensures marital stability (M 2.17), enablesa quality partner (M 2.15), allow people to show morematurity in marriage (M 2.44), the result indicates that therespondents are not favourably disposed towards thepositive implications of delayed marriage.On the negative implications of delayed marriage, therespondents agree that delayed marriage may causeindividual to experience infertility (2.76), has negative effecton children (producing delinquent children) (M 2.50), andmay lead to a stressful life (M 2.54). The respondentshowever, disagree that people who delay marriage beinvolved in cohabitation/pre-marital sex (M 1.99) and theydo not agree on the view that delayed marriage may bringdisrespect/shame to unmarried persons.575
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 8, August 2016Table II-2.1 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andmarital stability; t(253) -0.67, p .05 between male (M 2.14,SD 0.77) and female (M 2.20, SD 0.62). Both male andfemale respondents disagree that delayed marriage can leadto marital stability. Thus, the null hypothesis is retained.Table II-2.2 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andquality partner; t(254) -.69, p .05 between male (M 2.19,SD 0.85) and female (M 2.12, SD 0.69). Both male andfemale disagree that delayed marriage enables people tomarry quality partner. The null hypothesis is retained heresince there is no difference in their perceptions.Table II-2.3 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andmaturity; t(254) -.55, p .05 between male (M 2.41,SD 0.76) and female (M 2.46, SD 0.79). Both male andfemale disagree that delayed marriage enables people toshow maturity in their marriage. In this regard, the nullhypothesis is retained.Table II-2.4 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andcohabitation/pre-marital sex; t(254) 1.05, p .05 betweenmale (M 2.03, SD 0.57) and female (M 1.95, SD 0.65).Both male and female disagree that people who delaymarriage may be involved in cohabitation and pre-maritalsex. The null hypothesis is therefore retained.Table II-2.5 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andinfertility; t(254) 1.05, p .05 between male (M 2.80,SD 0.62) and female (M 2.72, SD 0.61). Both male andfemale agree that delayed marriage can cause infertility inindividual. The null hypothesis is therefore retained.Table II-2.6 reveals that a statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage and itseffect on children, t(257) 2.94, p .05 between male(M 2.59, SD 0.58) and female (M 2.36, SD 0.70). Here,the null hypothesis is rejected.Table II-2.7 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage and itspsycho-social effect; t(256) 3.03, p .05 between male(M 2.38, SD 0.78) and female (M 2.07, SD 0.83). Bothmale and female respondents disagree that delayed marriagemay cause individual to experience shame and disrespect.Thus, the null hypothesis is retained.TABLE I: PERCEPTION OF MARRIED ADULTS ON IMPLICATIONS OFDELAYED MARRIAGEStd.Married Adult PerceptionNMean DevDelayed marriage and marital stability.Delayed marriage and quality partner.Delayed marriage and maturity in marriage.Delayed marriage and cohabitation/pre-maritalsex.Delayed marriage and infertility.Delayed marriage and delinquent children.Delayed marriage and disrespect/shame.Delayed marriage and 72562592582552.762.472.222.54.620.656.815.872Table II-2.8 reveals that no statistically significant meandifference exists in perception on delayed marriage andstress t(253) 0.74, p .05 between male (M 2.58, SD 0.90)and female (M 2.50, SD 0.85). Both male and female576agree that delayed marriage can lead individuals to lead astressful life. Thus the null hypothesis is retained here.TABLE II: T-TEST ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENCE IN PERCEPTIONS BETWEENMALE AND FEMALE ON BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS OFDELAYED MARRIAGEIV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONAccording to the results, both male and femalerespondents do not agree that delayed marriage enablespeople to marry a quality partner, ensures marital stabilityand brings about more maturity in marital relationship. Tothem, maturity is not associated with age and it is not certainthat a person who marries after 30 years would displaymuch more marital maturity than a person who marriesearlier. Marital maturity should ensure marital stability,ceteris paribus, but in reality it is rarely so as other factors(such as low quality partner) affecting marital stability maypredominate. This view is supported by previous research byLehre and Chen [53] as well as Becker, Landes, andMichael [54] which found that women who delay marriageuntil after age 30 years old make unconventional matchesgenerally associated with high marital instability due towhat they refer to as a “poor-match effect” emerging withthe increasing chances of infertility.Furthermore, the results show that both male and femalerespondents agree that delayed marriage could cause peoplewho delay marriage to experience infertility problem. This isdue to the fact that the chance of becoming pregnant reducesas one approach older age. Previous study on theconsequences of aging on reproduction reports that peoplewho delay marriage are likely to face fertility problemsbecause fecundity sharply declines in the 30s, making itincreasingly difficult for women to become pregnant andhave healthy children as they approach 40 years [55].There is a differing perception on effect of delayedmarriage on chil
Index Terms—Delayed marriage, developing countries, early marriage, implications, marriage, perceptions. countries. The situation is even graver for . I. I. NTRODUCTION. Marriage remains an important institution which lays the foundation of a family which is the bedrock of a society. In developing countries, early marriage leads to overpopulation
